


Fire Escape

by JLMonroe1234



Series: Michelle Jones & Peter Parker [2]
Category: Spider-Man (Comicverse), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Michelle Jones is a Little Shit, Minor Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, POV Michelle Jones, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is a Mess, Protective Michelle Jones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:46:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22088854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JLMonroe1234/pseuds/JLMonroe1234
Summary: One of Michelle’s favorite places to hang out was on the fire escape outside her bedroom window. It was secluded, tranquil, and peaceful, the perfect place to go whenever her room was too small or people were too loud.It became a little less peaceful when Peter Parker stumbled his way onto it, smelling like smoke and babbling like an idiot.
Relationships: May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds, Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Michelle Jones & Peter Parker [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589194
Comments: 12
Kudos: 156





	Fire Escape

**Author's Note:**

> I'm in a pretty hardcore Michelle and Peter mood at the moment. Whoops.
> 
> PLEASE NOTE: This work is an original by JLMonroe1234 and has been posted STRICTLY to AO3. If you see it duplicated on any other platforms, please let me know so appropriate action can be taken. Thank you!

One of Michelle’s favorite places to hang out was on the fire escape outside her bedroom window. 

Her dad would probably bolt her window shut if he knew; he always said the fire escape on their building either needed to be replaced or torn completely off.  _ “They can either follow through on those safety promises they made in the lease contract, or they can stop fooling themselves and admit to the fact that the second someone steps out onto that metal death trap, its bolts will slide right out of the building and they’ll plummet to their death.”  _

Michelle wasn’t quite so worried. Sure, the platform creaked and groaned and shook when she climbed onto it, but it was sturdy enough. It had been holding her for years now. It held her when she grew a whole inch and a half in one school year. It held her  _ and  _ her little cousin when her auntie came to visit, and she was on babysitting duty. It held her and her heavy-soled Doc Martins and whatever novel she’s chosen to read under the glow of her phone’s flashlight. She had no reason to believe it would stop holding her now. 

She waited until her dad told her goodnight, until he shut his bedroom door and light was no longer leaking through the crack between the door and the floor. That’s when she carefully opened her window and tossed a cushion, a blanket and pillow out onto the platform- three items she’d bought with her own allowance for this very purpose. She trusted the fire escape’s integrity, but not its cleanliness. She wasn’t reckless enough to let herself or any of her good linens anywhere near the rusty metal. 

Michelle didn’t bring a book with her this time, instead deciding to simply lay flat on her back and stare at what few stars she could make out between the evening clouds and nearby Manhattan’s residual light. MJ had always liked the city, liked growing up in it and getting to experience its diversity and soul. But  _ man,  _ did it suck for star-gazing. 

The night was unusually warm and Michelle quickly found herself feeling drowsy. The last thing she wanted to do was fall asleep outside and have her father find her there in the morning, but she was much too comfortable to move at the moment. 

Her eyes began slipping shut just as her cellphone gave a violent buzz on her windowsill. The sound startled her, clearing enough of her mental fog to allow her to check the notification that blinked on the screen. 

It was her Neighborhood Watch app; something she’d downloaded on a whim when she decided the evening news wasn’t quick or relevant enough for her. She wanted real-time info as events unfolded, and she wanted to know if they were happening anywhere near Queens. 

She also liked this particular app because of its “Spidey Tracker” feature. Whoever ran it must have had loads of free time; they were constantly reporting Spider-Man’s whereabouts with almost deadly accuracy. Either they tracked Spidey religiously or were close friends with the guy. Michelle didn't really care which was the truth as long as they kept reporting. 

On this particular evening, the notification read, “ ** _Fire at Willow Creek residential building. Casualty count unknown._** **_Spider-Man spotted pulling civilians out of the building, but disappeared soon after emergency personnel appeared on the scene and extinguished the flames.”_**

Michelle snorted quietly, tapping her phone’s power button and gently placing the device back on the window sill. “Ever the hero, Spidey. Ever the hero.” 

Michelle had always admired Spider-Man. While she wasn’t one to advocate vigilante justice in any form, Spidey was more or less harmless. He never killed, he saved lives, and he seemed to use Queens as a home base. Anyone willing to protect Michelle’s home had some Good Person points in her book.

Her phone and Spider-Man forgotten, Michelle readjusted herself atop her makeshift bed and allowed her eyes to close. She drifted somewhere between sleep and consciousness for a good while. The sounds of the city banged and honked and shouted around her. At this point it was all just white noise, something that lulled her to sleep each evening. Having complete and total silence would have just been unsettling after living so long with nothing but constant sound. 

“Oh  _ shit! _ ”

Something rattled the fire escape and MJ jumped into a sitting position. A large object had tumbled its way onto the landing directly above her. She could see a shadowed figure moving slowly through the cracks in the platform. 

“Hello? You alright?” she said aloud. Whoever had shouted did  _ not  _ sound okay, and on the off-chance they were seriously hurt, she wanted to help. She also wanted to make sure she knew who and what she was dealing with before she got herself involved. 

The person didn’t respond for several seconds. “You’re talking to me?” they asked tentatively.

“Yeah, man. I’m talking to you.”

"Oh! Oh yeah, I’m-I’m good. Tripped on my way...On my way out of my window. My foot caught on the sill and I couldn’t catch myself in time and-”

The babbling was familiar. The tone of voice was sparking something within Michelle’s memory. “Hold up.  _ Peter?” _

“MJ?”

“The one and only.”

“Whoa! Hey! You live in the apartment directly below me?”

“It seems that way, Parker.”

“That’s so cool! We find out we’re in the same building, and then we find out we’ve been next to one another the whole time. Wild.”

“What’re you doing falling onto the fire escape in the middle of the night, Peter?” Michelle knew she needed to say something or the poor kid would never stop talking. He was a sweetheart and she didn’t mind talking to him, but she needed to shut him down for his own sake. Otherwise he would just keep talking and talking and talking and would end up saying something to embarrass himself. 

The fire escape shook a little. Peter was trying to pick himself up from his fall. “I-uh, I could be asking you the same thing, Miss Jones.”

_ Miss Jones?  _ Not being face to face with her was giving Peter way too much confidence. “How is that any of your business?”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked-”

“I’m just messing with you, Peter.”

Peter chuckled nervously. “Ha. Yeah. Right.”

“But to answer your question, I’m just hanging out. Doing nothing in particular. Now it’s your turn. Why are you falling all over my fire escape?”

“ _ Your  _ fire escape? I’ve been falling all over this fire escape for years now, thanks very much.”

“ _ Peter.” _

“Just needed somewhere to hang out for a few minutes before I went inside.”

Michelle raised an eyebrow. “Before you went inside? Are you implying that you were already outside?”

Peter was moving around again. Michelle craned her neck to try and get a glimpse of him, but it was too dark outside to see anything clearly. She also didn’t want to act like a creep and shine her phone flashlight through the grate.  _ That  _ he would definitely notice. 

But she  _ was  _ curious. Why was he out in the middle of the night? Sneaking out was a very un-Peter-like thing to do. The kid wouldn’t do anything to get in trouble or defy his aunt May. He respected her way too much. (So did everyone else that encountered her. May Parker was a goddess.) So why was he seeking refuge on the fire escape before stumbling inside his apartment? What was he trying to hide?

“No, that’s not what I meant. I just meant that I-”

“I’m messing with you again.”

“You can’t do this to me, MJ, I’m way too gullible.”

“I know. That’s why it’s fun. You’re an easy target.” 

“This would be a great time for you to sketch me. I’m definitely in a crisis. I’d make a great subject.”

“Then come down here so I can actually see you.”

Michelle caught Peter  _ and  _ herself off-guard. She hadn’t meant to actually say what she said; she’d been thinking about it, sure. Thinking about how it might actually be nice to talk to Peter on a warm night, just hang out and enjoy each other's company without the stress of school or other friends hindering their conversation. But she’d also been thinking about how weird he was acting, and how she wasn’t one for secrets or half-truths. 

“Never mind, you don’t have to-”

“Yeah, I think I better get inside. May’ll be mad if she realizes I’m not actually asleep, so I’m just gonna go-”

”You better. Wouldn’t want to get in trouble.”

The conversational silence was thick for several seconds. “Goodnight, MJ.”

“Goodnight, Peter.”

Michelle watched as the shadows shifted above her and she heard the tell-tale sound of a window being opened. A few seconds later Peter slipped into his apartment and the window slid shut.

If she wasn’t mistaken, the distinct smell of soot and ash wafted out after him. 


End file.
